Called Stdlib, the open source project focuses on numerical and scientific computing applications, which itself shows how JavaScript is growing beyond its web development roots. Stdlib will offer a collection of libraries for mathematics, statistics, data processing, and streams, and it will offer many of the utilities expected from a standard library, its creators say.

The Stdlib effort goes against JavaScript creator Brendan Eich’s preference to keep JavaScript’s standard library small and have it evolve incrementally. Instead, Stdlib is a continuation of third-party efforts to expand JavaScript functionality beyond what the official ECMAScript standard offers. (Eich is not involved in Stdlib, said Philipp Burkhardt, a key contributor to the project.)

Although the Stdlib effort began in 2016, details as to its functoniality have only recently been revealed.

Where to download Stdlib

Features planned for the Stdlib JavaScript library

The planned Stdlib capabilities include a plot API for data visualization and exploratory data analysis, as well as general utilities for data transformation, functional programming, and asynchronous control flow.

Among the more than 2,000 other functions in the Stdlib are:

Special math functions, including exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, absolute value, rounding. and special functions.